Public Release: 3-Oct-2014 TechnologyNew study shows that yoga and meditation may help train the brain
New research by biomedical engineers at the University of Minnesota shows that people who practice yoga and meditation long term can learn to control a computer with their minds faster and better than people with little or no yoga or meditation experience. The research could have major implications for treatments of people who are paralyzed or have neurodegenerative diseases.
National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, University of Minnesota's Institute for Engineering in Medicine

Public Release: 2-Oct-2014 ScienceMaking oxygen before life
About one-fifth of the Earth's atmosphere is oxygen, pumped out by green plants as a result of photosynthesis and used by most living things on the planet to keep our metabolisms running. UC Davis scientists have now shown that oxygen can be formed directly from carbon dioxide in the upper atmosphere, changing models of how the atmosphere evolved early in Earth's history.
NASA, National Science Foundation, US Department of Energy

Public Release: 2-Oct-2014 Biological Journal of the Linnean SocietyStudy: Big-headed ants grow bigger when faced with fierce competitors
The big-headed ant (Pheidole megacephala) is considered one of the world's worst invasive ant species. As the name implies, its colonies include soldier ants with disproportionately large heads. Their giant, muscle-bound noggins power their biting parts, the mandibles, which they use to attack other ants and cut up prey. In a new study, researchers report that big-headed ant colonies produce larger soldiers when they encounter other ants that know how to fight back
National Science Foundation

Public Release: 2-Oct-2014SDSC granted $1.3 million award for 'SeedMe.org' data sharing infrastructure
Researchers at the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California, San Diego have received a three-year, $1.3 million award from the National Science Foundation to develop a web-based resource that lets scientists seamlessly share and access preliminary results and transient data from research on a variety of platforms, including mobile devices.
National Science Foundation

Public Release: 2-Oct-2014 ScienceNew map exposes previously unseen details of seafloor
Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and their colleagues have created a new map of the world's seafloor. Twice as accurate as the previous version, the new map features a much more vivid picture of seafloor structures, including thousands of previously uncharted mountains.
National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, ConocoPhillips

Public Release: 2-Oct-2014 American Journal of BotanyTwice the DNA yield in less time
A new DNA isolation technique based on MagnaCel paramagnetic cellulose particles (PMC), originally designed and developed for forensic applications, was evaluated by researchers to determine its efficacy in extracting DNA from a wide range of plant species. Compared to other popular DNA extraction methods for plants, PMC was found to be more efficient and produced double the DNA yield. The study is available in the October 2014 issue of Applications in Plant Sciences.
National Science Foundation

Public Release: 2-Oct-2014 SciencePrinceton scientists observe elusive particle that is its own antiparticle
Princeton University scientists have observed an exotic particle that behaves simultaneously like matter and antimatter, a feat of math and engineering that could yield powerful computers based on quantum mechanics.
Office of Naval Research, National Science Foundation, Princeton Center for Complex Materials, Welch Foundation

Public Release: 2-Oct-2014 ScienceStudy of mountain lion energetics shows the power of the pounce
Scientists at UC Santa Cruz, using a new wildlife tracking collar they developed, were able to continuously monitor the movements of mountain lions in the wild and determine how much energy the big cats use to stalk, pounce, and overpower their prey. Their findings help explain why most cats use a 'stalk and pounce' hunting strategy.
National Science Foundation

Public Release: 1-Oct-2014 Biology LettersNew study first to document the voices of fish larvae
A new study from researchers at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science is the first to document that fish larvae produce sound. These 'knock' and 'growl' sounds may help small larvae maintain group cohesion in the dark.
National Science Foundation

Public Release: 1-Oct-2014 NatureSpiders: Survival of the fittest group
Theorists have long debated the existence and power of a type of evolution called group selection. Now, studying social spiders, two scientists have uncovered the first-ever experimental evidence of group selection driving collective traits in wild populations of these spiders.
National Science Foundation

Public Release: 1-Oct-2014Carnegie Mellon leads new NSF project mining educational data to improve learning
Carnegie Mellon University will lead a five-year, $5 million early implementation project sponsored by the National Science Foundation to improve educational outcomes and advance the science of learning by creating a large, distributed infrastructure called LearnSphere that will securely store data on how students learn.
National Science Foundation

Public Release: 1-Oct-2014 Nano LettersStressed out: Research sheds new light on why rechargeable batteries fail
Lithium ions traveling through a zinc antimonide anode cause local stress and phase transitions, a process dubbed atomic shuffling. These changes may help explain why most anodes made of layered materials eventually fail.
National Science Foundation, American Chemical Society -- Petroleum Research Fund

Public Release: 1-Oct-2014 Psychiatric ServicesPublic feels more negative toward drug addicts than mentally ill
People are significantly more likely to have negative attitudes toward those suffering from drug addiction than those with mental illness, and don't support insurance, housing and employment policies that benefit those dependent on drugs, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests.
American International Group, NIH/National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, National Science Foundation, Indiana University

Public Release: 1-Oct-2014 NatureEvolving plumbing system beneath Greenland slows ice sheet as summer progresses
A team led by scientists at the University of Texas at Austin's Institute for Geophysics has for the first time directly observed multiple parts of Greenland's subglacial plumbing system and how that system evolves each summer to slow down the ice sheet's movement toward the sea.
These new observations could be important in accurately modeling Greenland's future response to climate change.
National Science Foundation, Swiss National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society

Public Release: 1-Oct-2014 NatureGut bacteria are protected by host during illness
To protect their gut microbes during illness, sick mice produce specialized sugars in the gut that feed their microbiota and maintain a healthy microbial balance. This protective mechanism also appears to help resist or tolerate additional harmful pathogens, and its disruption may play a role in human diseases such as Crohn's disease, report scientists from the University of Chicago in Nature on Oct 1.
National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 1-Oct-2014 NatureGenetic secrets of the monarch butterfly revealed
Sequencing the genomes of monarch butterflies from around the world, a team of scientists has made surprising new insights into the monarch's genetics. They identified a single gene that appears central to migration -- a behavior generally regarded as complex -- and another that controls pigmentation. The researchers also shed light on the evolutionary origins of the monarch. They report their findings Oct. 1 in Nature.
National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 30-Sep-2014 American Journal of BotanyGene doubling shapes the world: Instant speciation, biodiversity, and the root of our existence
In their review, Soltis and colleagues emphasize that polyploidy and the important role it has played, especially in plant evolution, would not have gained the recognition it deserves would it not have been for its staunch proponent, G. L. Stebbins. In the mid-20th century Stebbins synthesized what was known at that time about polyploidy, classifying different types of ploidy, discussing ancient polyploidy events, and investigating hybridizing species and polyploid derivatives.
National Science Foundation

Public Release: 30-Sep-2014 Clinical Psychological ScienceAlcohol makes smiles more 'contagious,' but only for men
Consuming an alcoholic beverage may make men more responsive to the smiles of others in their social group, according to new research in Clinical Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The findings suggest that, for men, alcohol increases sensitivity to rewarding social behaviors like smiling, and may shed light on risk factors that contribute to problem drinking among men.
National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 29-Sep-2014 Physics Review LettersDeceptive-looking vortex line in superfluid led to twice-mistaken identity
So long, solitons: University of Chicago physicists have shown that a group of scientists were incorrect when they concluded that a mysterious effect found in superfluids indicated the presence of solitons -- exotic, solitary waves. Instead, they explain, the result was due to more pedestrian, whirlpool-like structures in the fluid. They published their explanation in the Sept. 19 issue of Physical Review Letters.
National Science Foundation, US Department of Energy, Hertz Foundation

Public Release: 29-Sep-2014How do lawyers matter? Study explores the question for low-income litigants
A study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that was recently awarded a two-year $300,000 grant by the National Science Foundation is exploring questions confronting the legal profession in its effort to improve access to justice for low-income unrepresented civil litigants.
National Science Foundation, Institute for Research on Poverty

Public Release: 29-Sep-2014Wayne State research aims to develop new, more efficient catalytic materials
In order to support the world's needs to make cheaper and more effective fuels, chemicals, polymers and more, new and more efficient catalytic materials and processes must be developed. A team of researchers, including several from Wayne State University, is tackling this problem with the help of a new grant from the National Science Foundation.
National Science Foundation

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Science360
News is an up-to-date view of breaking science news from around the
world. We gather news from wherever science is happening, including directly from scientists, college and university press offices, popular and peer-reviewed journals, dozens of National Science Foundation science and engineering centers, and funding sources that include government agencies, not-for-profit organizations and private industry.